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Online Sources/Transcript (Update)
Transcript (Update Version) Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim grabs an envelope from a large pile of mail. It is stamped with the word, overdue. Tim pulls out a red notice and frowns as he reads it over. He walks over to Moby who is sitting on the couch wearing a helmet with blinking light bulbs. Moby's eyes are shut. TIM: Hey, have you been using my library card again? Moby keeps his eyes closed when he responds to Tim. MOBY: Beep. TIM: You didn't borrow Robot Self-Repair Made Easy? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Teach Yourself Artificial Intelligence? Okay, I know I didn't take out all of these Twilight movies! Moby looks at Tim incredulously. He crumples up the library notice Tim is holding and hands him a letter. Tim sighs and reads from the typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I use the Internet to research all of my papers and reports but how do I know if I'm getting good information? From, Sidney. Hey, Sidney. There are a lot of great resources online. Encyclopedias, periodicals, government studies, university research… An animation shows examples of the kinds of websites Tim describes. It zooms out to show the array of options available online. TIM: They serve up millions of pages you can use for schoolwork. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Unfortunately, plenty of sites aren't that reliable, or are just plain wrong. Like this one: An image shows a website entitled, Evolution Debunked. The homepage included a photo of a caveman riding a dinosaur and an article entitled, Dinosaurs and People! TIM: … pretty sure humans and dinosaurs never lived side by side. Moby and I stumbled on this site while we were researching the Natural Selection movie. Fortunately, we have a handy dandy system for evaluating online sources. Moby whips out a notepad and pen. TIM: And it can be boiled down to just three main steps. Moby holds up his notepad. There is a checklist with three items: Publisher? Author? Content? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yup! First we try to find out a little about the publisher. In other words, the person or group running the website. Highlighted text reads: Publisher? TIM: One good tip is to look at the domain – the letters that come after the last dot in the address. An animation shows the NASA homepage. An inset magnifies the web address, and highlights the letters GOV after the last dot. TIM: If it ends with a dot gov, that means it's a government website. And dot edus are reserved for accredited colleges and universities. Icons pop up to illustrate the different types of domains Tim describes. TIM: Most of the sites in these domains are rigorously fact-checked. The information they contain has been reviewed and verified to be true. An image shows the USGS government website. A magnifying glass scans across the page. TIM: Other common domains - dot coms, dot orgs, dot nets, whatever—are open. An animation fills with the different domain suffixes as Tim lists them. TIM That means any old person can buy one of these spaces, and put whatever information they want there. An animation shows an filthy-looking man sitting in a dimly lit room. He is typing on a laptop surrounded by partially eaten junk food. He does not seem like a trustworthy source. MOBY: Beep. TIM: That's true: most popular open domain resources are reliable. Like BrainPOP - we're a dot com, and we fact-check everything. An animation shows a browser window with one of the BrainPOP FYIs on batteries. That page is then replaced with an unfamiliar website called Duper News. TIM: But you need be skeptical of sites you've never heard of before. That means you shouldn't accept what they say at face value. First, do a little detective work about the site itself. An animation zooms in on the Duper News footer. A magnifying glass slides over the footer and highlights the link to an About Us page. Tim clicks on it. TIM: Most homepages have an About link, often at the very bottom. It'll take you to a statement by the editor or publisher, laying out who they are and what they stand for. This is a good place to look for any potential bias, or slant in their viewpoint. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Like… let's say you're doing a report on an American President. A website's About page might reveal that it's aligned with a political party. The magnifying glass scans over the Duper News About Us page and finds that the website is associated with the American Whig Party. TIM: If your President was a member of that party, look out: the information on this site could be slanted to make him look good. An animation shows a Duper News article on Milliard Fillmore, who was also a member of the American Whig party. The title of the article is, Millard Fillmore: HERO. The page also includes a flattering image of Fillmore surrounded by hearts. TIM: And if he was in an opposing party, he might be covered in a negative way. An animation shows a Duper News article on Franklin Pierce, who was a member of an opposing party. The title of the article is, Franklin Pierce: ZERO. The page also includes an image of Franklin Pierce looking sad and crying. TIM: About pages can also reveal a website's sponsors - the people or organizations paying the bills. An animation returns to the Duper News about page. The magnifying glass zooms down the page to a paragraph that mentions a sponsor called COMTECH. The image transitions to a large building with the word COMTECH at the top. TIM: It's smart to look them up too; a quick search can be quite revealing. You might discover that they have an - a set of goals they're trying to accomplish. An animation shows a group of people having a meeting in a COMTECH conference room. One person is giving a presentation about COMTECH's company goals. TIM: Whether you agree with those goals or not, you have to ask yourself: Are the sites they're sponsoring objective? In other words, are they trying to present fair, accurate information? An animation zooms in on the woman giving the presentation. The screen next to her shows an animation of a scale with a feather on one side and a weight on the other. The scale seesaws back and forth to illustrate how information can either be objective or unfairly biased. TIM: Unfortunately, writers can purposely twist the truth to advance their website's agenda. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right, that brings us to the next step: check up on the author. An animation shows Moby's checklist. The Publisher box has been checked off. Author is the next item on the list. TIM: Sometimes, there's a mini-biography right on the same page. Or their name might link to one. The aim here is to find out if they have expertise in the subject they're talking about. An animation shows a video on the website for Landford University. The title of the video is, Costs of Geothermal Energy. It shows a man standing in front of a power plant and talking. Scrolling down to the bottom of the page reveals an About the Author section with a short biography of the man in the video. His name is Malcolm Nuftry and he is a professor who has published a book on the topic of the video. He seems like an expert. TIM: You can always learn more by plugging their name into a search engine. You'll find other stuff they've written, jobs they've held, and organizations they support. An animation shows the search results for Malcolm Nuftry on a search engine called Gaggle. TIM: But if a source doesn't name an author, be extra skeptical of what it says. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yup, no matter who wrote it or where it appears, you should always evaluate the content itself. An animation shows Moby's checklist. The Publisher and Author boxes are both checked off. Content is the final item on the list. TIM: Be alert to its goals: Is it trying to persuade you of something? An animation shows a magnifying glass sliding over Professor Nuftry in the video, trying to figure out his goals. TIM: There's nothing wrong with sources that have a strong perspective. In fact, it's a writer's job to… you know, have a point. A totally neutral list of facts wouldn't be very interesting. An animation shows bricks labeled with the word FACT. They stack up in two plain columns and then tumble to the ground. TIM: Writers organize information to support a distinct viewpoint. The fallen FACT bricks rearrange to form a complex pyramid of information. TIM: So even when all the individual facts are true, they can be used to advance an opinion. The trick is to recognize that, and determine whether it's an informed opinion. The word OPINION appears at the center of the pyramid. TIM: Is it using emotional language, instead of facts and reasoning? An animation shows a magnifying glass zooming over the article on Franklin Pierce. It lands on a passage that reads: Worst. President. Ever. TIM: Does it cite sources, showing you where those facts come from? If so, you can review that original material and form your own opinion. And if there are no citations, that's a big red flag. An animation scrolls to the bottom of the page with the video of Professor Nuftry. There is a long list of references with links to other articles. TIM: Finally, look at the date the content was published. An animation scrolls back to the top of Professor Nuftry's page and a magnifying glass zooms over the date: October 12, 2017. TIM: It's common to come across pages first posted years or even decades ago. In some cases, that can be really helpful. Like if you're trying to learn how people reacted to a certain event. An animation shows an article on the 2000 presidential election, entitled Al Gore Concedes Election. The article is dated December 12, 2000. TIM: In other situations, older material can be irrelevant or just totally wrong. An animation shows and old-looking website with an article entitled, Y2K Will Destroy Power Grid. The date is March 4, 1999. The information in this article is outdated. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep, you could burn through a lot of time finding and evaluating sources. That's why it's important to keep track of ones you trust. I've bookmarked dozens of dependable sites, organized by subject area. I know they're trustworthy, so evaluating new articles is way easier. An animation shows Tim's list of bookmarks, organized as he describes. TIM: But if I'm still having trouble finding what I need, I head to the library. Librarians can point you to online sources you might not have thought about. An animation shows Tim on a computer at the library. A librarian is sitting next to him, helping him with his research. TIM: And help you locate physical sources that you won't find anywhere else. Like documentary films and audio interviews, photos, and other historical documents. An animation shows examples of the different physical sources Tim mentions. TIM: Plus, unlike a lot of websites, you don't have to pay for access. Unless of course, you're habitually late returning items. So... Tim uncrinkles the overdue bill from the library and frowns at Moby. Tim tries to hand the bill to Moby, but Moby puts his helmet back on and closes his eyes. Tim sighs. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Engineering & Technology Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts